The Nuggets have gotten plenty of well-deserved love for the offseason they’ve had, but on a recent episode of the Kevin O’Connor Show, KOC and his guest, Kenny Beacham, hit the nail on the head, talking about the team’s newfound flexibility and versatility.
KOC opined that the Nuggets have by far the best backups of Nikola Jokic’s career, and the team can now transform stylistically at will whenever they please. They’ll have their conventional starting lineup with Aaron Gordon at power forward and Jokic at center.
But now, they can also opt to go double-big and put Jonas Valanciunas out there with Jokic in the frontcourt to overpower teams. Then, they can go the opposite route and play small-ball with AG at the five and run teams off the floor if they want to.
On top of that, we’ve already seen the jumbo lineup with all three bigs on the floor and Gordon playing small forward. The versatility that the front office has created is incredible, and there are almost unlimited options for David Adelman and his staff to play with.
Nuggets can match styles with any team in the league
In years past, the Nuggets have been largely one-dimensional with limited depth and a weak bench. Granted, that one dimension was elite thanks to Jokic, but it’s exciting to imagine the possibilities now. There’s nothing teams can throw at Denver that they won’t have an answer for.
Sure, it may take time to find the right combos and for Adelman to know when to push the right buttons, but he has all the cards. They’re going to be able to create mismatches against everyone they play, and when they find a weak spot, they should be able to poke at it over and over again.
They already forced teams to adjust, but that should go to another level this season. There are teams with weak frontcourts that the Nuggets should be able to bludgeon with size. Some teams can only play big, and the Nuggets should be able to exhaust them with pace and speed.
The point is, they should have an adjustment for everything that’s thrown their way, and they should be able to do it as well as anyone. The Thunder have set the gold standard for their relentless depth, but the Nuggets should be able to go blow-for-blow this season. Things change in a hurry in the NBA, but as we near the start of the regular season, the Nuggets are in a great position thanks to their versatility.